Opinion: Why do People Like Horror Movies?

Disclaimer: This article is my personal opinion,
I’m just going to suggest some of
the possible reasons you can like horror-movies.

With the winter storms moving in and
people being frustrated about missing school, we all begin to scream at the
mere notion of someone making a Freddy Kroger joke. Or how about gamers, we're
not out of the woods, many of us are ducking under the covers when Five Nights
at Freddy's lore is mentioned. So with that fact, why do we like horror,
especially horror movies and games? It seems like we'd hate them, especially
the overly gory ones, and yet they seem to be making all the money in the
box-offices, but the question is why?

Why do People like being scared?

Well, I suppose to answer the
question of why people like horror-movies, we have to figure out why people
like being scared. One reason is that people like the thrill of things,
especially younger people. Though horror-movies are loved and seen by all ages
(same with books) younger people are more able to see them because well,
they're younger. They have more time to spare and sometimes more money than
adults meaning they are more likely to see certain horror-films. This is
important since younger people like thrills more than adults. This is because
young people like adventure, they like fun things. That's why you see kids
making up games to play, because they want a thrill rush and can't just escape
reality (if only we could though).

There is also the concept of scaring
someone into leaning a lesson. This is more apparent in traditional Zombie and Vampire
films but the notion still exists today. As for where this honestly sick practice
came from, just look to the original Brothers Grimm fairytales. Knowing this, that
horror movies are most likely popular for this reason, and that kids love
adventure and have more time to see them, now we know why scary stuff in
general is popular and the general horror audience, we can tackle the real
question, why do people love horror films? To do this without overwhelming
myself, we'll divide this genre into 3 main categories, Vampires, Zombies, and
other monsters. so without further ado, let's get on with it shall we?

Vampires:

Okay, now these are the classics, Vampires
(at least in the last two centuries) were really the first modern monsters to
get really popular. Now for the sake of my sanity I'm not going to mention
stories like (groan) Twilight since:

A. It's not horror,

and

B. It's rather disgusting and not
very well written for what it is, but that's for another day.

Anyway, I suppose the best place is
Bram Stoker's Dracula, the go to book when discussing Vampires. Now, in the
novel as you'd expect it's fair and gritty but there is also something a bit
more subtle. The novel has a lot of commentary on Victorian society, and
because the monster is very human-like, it makes people feel like they can
become that monster who does horrible things. This is (what I dub) a grim
fairytale scare. It's violent, scary, and eerie and yet it scares us into a
learning a lesson (which is another reason Twilight sucks; it ruins classic Vampires.
Now let's hope Mrs. Meyer doesn't watch the Walking Dead.)

Zombies:

Zombies are very interesting to talk
about and my personal favorite of all realms of horror. Apparently I'm not
alone though, right now Zombies are the thing, and besides anime everyone seems
to like them. One reason for this is that they are so gory. Zombies are gory,
dark, and you can't have a Zombie without the gore. This can lead to creativity
(hear me out here): how much gore do you want, do you want organs flying out,
or do you want to look human still. Truly Zombies are like Burger Kings of
horror, letting you have it your way.

Terrible jokes aside, Zombies even
without story-telling are amazingly fun to discuss and draw in this regard, it
also explains an eighth of fan-art on the Internet. Another reason is that the
true monsters in Zombie films aren't really the Zombies, but rather the people
running from them. In Zombie horror, oftentimes characters are stripped of all
basic technology and left with two things, instinct and the few weapons they
know how to use. People in these stories are pushed to the brink and often
times their true selves are revealed, and as sad as it is, many of these true
selves are complete monsters, sometimes even more than the Zombies. Yet when
society is non-existent, does it really matter? I feel questions like these are
what makes Zombie movies appeal to so many different people. These psychological
questions make us think about our society now, and how really in some respects
it isn't much better than the world with Zombies, and that is scarier to think
about than some beast/shell of a human trying to chase us.

Other Monsters/ Serial Killers:

Okay since these kind of fit into
the same category and yet they are slightly different. I'm going to tackle them
in two sub groups.

Serial Killers/Psychopaths:

You know Five Nights at Freddy's. Pretty
fun game, but the back-story about a crazed child murderer that still drives
theorists into Toon-town is really what appeals to everyone. On that note,
let's talk about this sub-genre. Now, serial killers are scary for a lot of
people for one reason: they most of the time have no heart and even sometimes
no soul. Now granted, some serial killers (even in real life) have many reasons
for doing what they do, but the strong lot of them do it because it simply
because to them it's fun, and the fact that's it not some mutated creature
killing people makes it feel more real than ever, speaking of which:

Other Monsters:

Now, this kind of horror is kind of
a hybrid of Zombie and Vampire themes. These tales (think Frankenstein) often
have dark and mature moments to scare the audience into learning a lesson.
However, the hybrid factor comes in with the humans (what would cinema be
without ‘em?) In many of these stories, the humans reacting to the monsters can
often times turn into the bigger monsters, trying to understand everything.

Conclusion:

In the end, why people like
horror-films is truly up to opinion. I have just suggested some of the possible
reasons you can like horror-movies. But in the end it's important to remember
that horror movies (as with any genre) are mostly there for fun. In the end, if
you like the genre, enjoy it and for everyone else, nighty nighty.

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